Whispers on the Winds
by crystal-tokyo-princess
Summary: In an era of daimyo and youkai, strife and torture, elegance and intolerance, begins a story of love and sacrifice. This is a tale of romance, courage, and strife, a story of the love between Inuyasha's parents!
1. Youkai

Title: Whispers on the Wind - Ch. 1 - _Youkai_  
**Author:** CrystalTokyoPrincess  
**Chapter Rating**: G  
**Summary**: In an era of daimyo and youkai, strife and torture, elegance and intolerance begins a story of love and sacrifice. This is a tale of romance, courage, and strife, a story of the love between Inuyasha's parents!

Author's Notes:  
This fiction contains mild, mild spoilers for those who have not gotten far into either the manga or show. Particularly, it contains spoilers about a more pinpointed time-period.

Inuyasha's "current" setting is sometime after 1542 when firearms were first introduced into Japan by Portuguese traders. However, it is before before 1568 when Oda Nabunaga's capture of Kyoto made him famous. From that, we can conjecture that the setting is somewhere between 1542 and 1568, but probably sometime in the 1550s since it would have taken time for firearms to diffuse through the island. Needless to say, the setting is the late Muromachi period. 

This story is set approximately 70 years prior, given that Inuyasha is 20 at most when Kikyou seals him upon the God Tree. So, I'm saying the story is set circa 1480 A.D., probably a few years after.

Okay, now that we have the setting down, it's time for a few brief notes. Inuyasha's mother and father currently have no names in my story. I floundered over possible names, since none are supplied in the actual series. Thus, I've left them unnamed until such a time as I can name them properly! Also, due to Inuyasha's mother's attire during the flashbacks, I've made the assumption that she is a noblewoman. Her kimono style was too ornate for the time period for her to be anything but upperclass!

You'll find that Japanese words are in _italics_! Glossary notes, if needed despite context clues and direct definition in the story, can be found at the bottom of the page!

This chapter is abnormally short, by the way. I suppose it's more like a prologue. But I'll leave it Chapter 1.

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A stately young woman in a patterned, ornate kimono -- a_ uchikake,_ a typical noblewoman's attire -- walked across a bridge, her head lifted to the stars as the breeze rustled the ebony-silk strands of her long hair. Although her expression was bland and unreadable, there was undoubtedly something pensive and thoughtful about her. 

She paused a moment, gazed down at the calm pond below the bridge, and then continued on to the bank where she sat beside the flowers lining the pond. She ran a hand through her hair, then placed both hands in her lap and gazed upwards. For many moments she sat in peaceful reverie.

"_Himesama_! _Himesama_!" 

The woman sighed, bowed her head for a moment and then glanced towards the bridge. A servant girl was running towards it, towards her. The woman stood and walked towards and across the bridge, effecting detached elegance as she met the girl halfway across. The panting girl bowed deeply.

"_Hime_, there is a badly wounded _youkai_ in the house, wounded staving off _youkai_ from the outskirts of your father's lands! Your father sends for you, at the main house."

"A _youkai_?"

"_Hai_, Lady, a _youkai_."

"And to be wounded so badly..." the woman mused as she quickened her pace in the direction of the main house, "...that he must seek treatment from us...Tell me, he does look human?"

"I-I suppose so. I don't know. I couldn't see."

"Lurking in the shadows as usual," the woman said, lips twinging with the mildest touch of amusement.

"_Hai_, Lady," the young girl said softly.

"Well, I suppose I shall see for myself."

"_Hai_, Lady."

The woman looked at the girl, an eyebrow raising slightly. "Go fetch more doctors, if my father hasn't already sent for them all."

"_Hai_, Lady," said the girl before scurrying across the bridge in the direction the woman had come from.

Without a second thought, the woman continued on, her pace dignified but brisk as she entered the house and strode through the crowd which readily parted for her, revealing a bloodied, silvery-haired man on a stretcher on the floor. She bowed her head towards an elderly but firm man standing beside it, "Father...So this is the _youkai_ who put himself at risk for our lands?"

"_Hai_, daughter."

"He must have taken quite a beating," the lady said as she knelt beside the youkai and reached for a pale, bloodied hand. She noted the claws with a frown, but still gave the hand a firm squeeze. "Thank you, _Youkai_-_ue_, for protecting our people."

The _youkai_ flinched twice in his unconscious state before his eyelids flickered slowly open to reveal eyes of warm ambery gold. 

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Well, that's all for now! If you've the thought to review, please go ahead and do so! Glossary below!  
**CrystalTokyoPrincess**

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Glossary  
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uchikake: (_pronounced: oo-chee-kah-keh_) An ornate kimono worn by women during the latter part of Japan's Feudal Era, this clothing item came to common usage during the Edo Period. However, in the Muromachi period it was most often worn by the rich and upperclass.****

**himesama**: (_pronounced: hee-may-sah-mah_) This is a term for a nobleman's daughter.

**hime**: (_pronounced: hee-may_) This can either be the title for a princess or a highborn woman. In this case, it is the respectful title of a highborn woman.

**youkai**: (_prounced: yoh-kye_) Though this term has several meanings -- ghost, demon, monster, ghoul -- the one meant here and throughout the _Inuyasha_ series is that of demon.

-**ue**: (_pronounced: oo-eh)_ A suffix for denoting one's respect, means "Lord" or someone you are subordinate to when tacked onto a name.

**hai**: (_pronounced: high or eye_) Yes.


	2. Healing

Title: Whispers on the Wind - Ch. 2 - Healing  
**Author:** CrystalTokyoPrincess  
**Chapter Rating**: G  
**Summary**: In an era of daimyo and youkai, strife and torture, elegance and intolerance begins a story of love and sacrifice. This is a tale of romance, courage, and strife, a story of the love between Inuyasha's parents!  
**Author's Notes**: This time around, I'm not quite so verbose in my title block! Basically, the glossary never has words in it that have been in previous chapters, unless they're fairly uncommon words like _uchikake_ and I've used them in a chapter. Japanese words are still in _italics_. Anyhow. Hoorah! Story time!

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"_H_-_himesama_..." the _youkai_ said breathlessly, warm eyes blinking rapidly, "It was...no trouble at all. The worst kinds of --"

Bravely, the woman put a finger to the _youkai'_s lips and smiled gently down at him. "Perhaps no trouble, but you are wounded. We've doctors coming for you." With that said she lifted the finger from his lips and placed the hand she'd been holding on the _youkai_'s stomach.

The _youkai_ managed a wan smile. "I suppose I might need to be patched up a bit."

"_Hai_. Your wounds, it seems, would have killed a normal man, what with all that blood--"

"I'm a _youkai_, after all," he managed, lips twinging in amusement.

"That you are," the woman replied, her own lips twinging slightly in response to the _youkai_'s amusement, "and one of the few kind, honorable ones out there."

The youkai offered a wan though pleased smile. "Thank you for your kind words, _himesama_."

"It certainly seems the truth, sir," the woman spoke softly. She reached out to pat gently the hand resting on the _youkai_'s stomach. "Heal and rest, and we'll thank you properly once all is said and done."

The _youkai_ smiled up at her. "Thank you, Lady, and you as well, Lord, for your hospitality."

Just then a pair of doctors, accompanied by a young _houshi_ and an elderly _miko_, pressed through. All cringed at the bloodloss the _youkai _had suffered; the _youkai _closed his eyes and awaited the treatment. One doctor, a middle aged man with hair already graying at his temples, stood resolutely by the stretcher, fists defiantly applied to his hips as his fellow healers gathered 'round the stretcher and set to work.

"Everyone...OUT."

The spectators slowly shuffled towards the door.

The Lord and his daughter turned to watch their subjects leave. With a frown, the Lord crossed his chest and barked out: "A bit more quickly. No loafing about." And so the subjects left. 

The Lady glanced down at the _youkai_, a touch of concern playing over her features. What was to come of this man, this demon? 

The Lord uncrossed his arms and took a firm but gentle hold on his daughter's upper arm. "Come now, daughter."

The Lady followed dutifully behind her father, but not after a glance to the _youkai _being tended by a troupe of trained healers. Then she turned her head forward and did not look back, though concern still rested delicately upon her brow.

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The two doctors removed the tatters of the _youkai_'s upper garment and began inspecting the wounds on his torso. The two spoke quietly amongst themselves, questioning and diagnosing, and finally the younger of the two took out a clean rag and dipped it into a bucket of what looked like water but ... most assuredly was not.

The _youkai_'s hand reflexively clasped and unclasped around the hilt of the sword at his side, his only sign of discomforture. The middle-aged doctor removed the sword from the _youkai_'s grasp and set it aside without a second thought. The _youkai_'s hands dropped to the floor beside him.

Meanwhile, the _miko_ dropped various herbs into a mortar, gripping the wooden bowl between gnarled fingers as she began grinding with a stone pestle. She dug around in a satchel at her side and retrieved a small flask, popping the stopper and emptying a good portion of the flask's contents into the mortar. She handed the flask to the priest, who capped it for her. The _miko_ set to work grinding away at herbs and liquid.

"I more often destroy _youkai _than save them," the old _miko_ related with a good-natured chortle as she paused to hand the priest her satchel. "But when there is good in the heart, there is no use to destroy the heart's bearer."

The _youkai_ smiled lightly though his eyes remained closed. "Few youkai have the interests of others in mind or heart."

"Well spoken, _youkai-sama_, well spoken," the young priest said as he shuffled through the elderly _miko_'s satchel for varying ingredients, adding a drop of this or a pinch of that to the mixture until the old woman held up her hand. She motioned for the priest to look into the bowl.

"This is the consistency needed for this particular treatment. A paste, but a smooth paste. Not lumpy. If it's lumpy, you may not have ground far enough."

"_Hai_,Hakumei-_sensei_," replied the _houshi_ as he peered down into the bowl, "I see what you mean."

"It reduces scarring and helps seal and disinfect wounds. It also may alleviate the topical pain though the doctors seem already to be worrying about any pain our _youkai_ savior may have," she paused momentarily to watch the doctors administer a pain relief draught. "Hopefully that's enough for a _youkai_ to be numbed."

"It will be," intoned the _youkai_. His eyes remained closed. "I can take pain in any case. The fact is simply that the extent of the wounds was more than my body could repair. Give me a few days and I should be fully repaired."

"Ha. He treats his body as though it was merely a structure, a building!" laughed the elderly priestess. 

"In some ways, the body is much like a building," said the _youkai_. The doctors continued checking over his wounds. "After all, it is built on a frame and when damaged can be repaired though it often does not seem ."

"A house can be rebuilt from the ground up, though, _youkai-sama_," said the priest as he finished packing away his teacher's herbs and potion, "...whereas the body cannot."

"Wise words, Nikkou. You learn well," said the old woman gruffly; the young priest merely bowed his head respectfully. Taking that chance, the _miko_ nabbed her satchel from her pupil and pulled out a wooden utensil that looked like a flattened out spoon. She stirred up her mixture and then glanced over at the doctors who had finished swabbing down and cleaning out various wounds.

"Where are the worst wounds?" 

They motioned to the first one, a wound on the _youkai_'s stomach that had come frighteningly close to disembowling the poor man.

"Hmph," said the old woman as she slathered on the mixture. The _youkai_ lay as serenly as ever, no clenching or unclenching of fists along the edges of the stretcher.

"Most of the other wounds are superficial, but some are worse than others," said the older of the two doctors, who indicated the worst wounds. The priestess and her pupil slathered the _youkai_'s torso in the mixture. So began the system of point and slather which continued on until the entirety of the _youkai_'s wounds over the entire of his body had been slathered and finally bandaged. 

In the end, the quartet of healers found the _youkai_ asleep. So the four healers cleaned up after themselves and covered the _youkai _to give him so dignity. Then they departed. Henceforth, the main house was off limits to all but the Lord's family.

Some time later that evening the Lord's daughter tiptoed in and left the _youkai_ a change of clothing.

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Well, as usual, if you've an inkling to do so, please review!  
**CrystalTokyoPrincess**

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Glossary  
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houshi:(_pronounced: hoe-she_) a Buddhist priest.

miko: (_pronounced: me-koe_) a Shinto priestess.

-**sama**: (_pronounced: sah-mah_) a suffix of deep respect that can often be translated to "Lord" or "Lady" as it is in this case.

-**sensei**: (_pronounced: sen-say_) a suffix to indicate respect for a teacher, doctor, or other professional.


	3. Understanding

**Title:** Whispers on the Wind - Ch. 3 - Healing  
**Author:** CrystalTokyoPrincess  
**Chapter Rating**: G  
**Summary**: In an era of daimyo and youkai, strife and torture, elegance and intolerance, begins a story of love and sacrifice. This is a tale of romance, courage, and strife, a story of the love between Inuyasha's parents.  
**Author's Notes**: It's taken me a while to update! My most sincere apologies to anyone who has actually been reading this story.

The _youkai_'s eyes fluttered open as the morning sun trailed through the opened door. He propped himself up on his elbows, gaze focusing on the feminine figure superimposed black against gold and green.

"_Shitsurei shimasu_..." was stated with a respectful bow. The woman made her way gracefully across the floor. "_Ohayou gozaimasu_ ... _youkai_-_sama_."

So it was the woman, the _daimyo'_s daughter. He tried to sit up, but the stiff bandages and the sharp twinge of pain in his side reminded him of his battle nights previous. With a sigh, he resigned to propping himself upon his elbows.

He glanced up at her, "Good morning, _hime-sama_."

"My good _youkai-sama_, you heal quickly," spoke the _daimyo_'s daughter tonelessly, neither voice nor stance nor expression giving way to whatever thoughts prevailed inside. She knelt beside him and tapped at his elbows, "Your wounds would have killed a mortal creature such as myself. I would not be surprised should your surface wounds have healed but your internal injuries still be of some discomfort."

The _youkai_ grunted and lay back. The _daimyo_'s daughter took out a small knife and artfully slit the thoracic bandages, maneuvering the demon so the wrappings slid easily out from under him. She set the bandages aside and then returned her gaze to her patient; in total amazement, her eyes went wide and her fingers reached out to delicately trace the remnants of scar tissue.

The _youkai_ blinked up at her. "Is there something wrong, _hime-sama?_"

"Not at all. I'm simply amazed at the handywork. The old _miko _and her _houshi _companion have done a splendid job. There is only some scarring," said the woman breathlessly, "Fascinating...although, I suppose that has something to do with being what you are, hmm?"

"_Hai, hime-sama_. It does. I should be fully healed in a few hours at the least. I see you left me clothing."

The young woman inclined her head respectfully to the _youkai_, but as she glanced back up her eyebrows were drawn suspiciously over her eyes. "_Ano sumimasen ga_...why did you feel the need to protect us, _youkai-sama_? No other _youkai _has ever or would ever have bothered to keep another in check under such a situation."

"My opinion differs greatly from that of other _youkai_, _hime-sama_."

"So I had gathered."

"If I must go into it now, I will. However, I feel this should be addressed at a later date should I maintain my status as a guest in this house."

The young noblewoman's gaze went perplexed at the _youkai's_ choice of words and then hurriedly she stated. "A hero is always welcome. He who saved us is always welcome, my lord. You have our gratitude. We have not yet repaid it. Please, _youkai-sama_, forgive my forwardness. I have a committed a great rudeness..." Her head bowed at her perceived rudeness.

The youkai reached out and tilted her chin upward, looking her boldly in the eyes. "You were forward but as you should be. This is your house, your home. Protecting it should be first in your mind as always. This is your father's court, _nee, hime-sama_?"

"Yes, _youkai-sama_."

"Are you the only child of your father's?"

"No, youkai-sama. I have an elder brother, a younger brother, and many younger sisters."

"And your mother, what of her?"

"She died when I was only ten. I assisted my father around the court until he married my stepmother."

"Ah. I was wondering how you had become such a hostess. If only my son had manners as yours. His mother and I tried to teach him...but he is untrainable."

The noblewoman tilted her head at this information, "If it is not too bold of me to ask, how old is your son?"

"Old enough to know better. He is probably the age of some of your younger siblings."

"Oh," came the girl's reply, the tone somewhat disappointed as she continued, "I had heard rumors that one youkai's lifespan could span many human generations."

"They can, _hime-sama,"_ said the youkai as he struggled to sit up fully. The noblewoman reached out to assist him. He nodded his thanks to her, "_Arigatou gozaimasu, hime-sama_. You should know that I am centuries old. I am not a young _youkai_ and perhaps this is why I think and feel the way I do about the interactions of the _youkai_ and human worlds."

"Oh?"

"I shall explain my feelings on this to you at a later date. Let us take a walk."

"You should dress yourself first, _youkai-sama_," said the girl blushingly.

"Yes, I believe I should. It is nothing to blush over. Have you not already considered a man whom you wish to marry? That is the custom of humans is it not?"

"It is...but, I have not...partaken."

"No one, then?"

"No one. I shall step outside for a time. Let me know when you have finished. _Shitsurei shimasu_!" With a flourishing bow, the lady stepped outside.


End file.
